Thursday, December 4, 2014

Spotlight On: Inside Out, by Lia Riley

When Talia first moved from California to Australia to study abroad, she never dreamed she'd find the love of her life. Bran understands her like no one ever has before. And despite the numerous challenges they've faced, they've always managed to figure out how to stay together. But this time they'll face their toughest hurdle yet. Is their love strong enough to keep them together?

“Show me the way back to you.” He buries his face in my neck, drags
his lips to the place behind my ear, the headwaters for all delicious shivers.

“I want that so much.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes, go off the map.”

“You will?”

“We’re already there.”

He’s right. We’ve been explorers for some time. During the last
little while it’s as if a blizzard descended, we were stuck in a whiteout, so
close, but the snow made everything indistinguishable. At last, the storm’s
abating and he’s right there, and I’m over here. Suddenly, we can see each
other.

Within us is the way forward. We each possess half of the compass
and must join together to find the right direction.

“You’ve got to know how much I need you.” A lock of his wet hair
twists in a boyish curl.

I go to smooth it down, but my fingers tangle in the thick waves,
and instead draw him closer.

He bows his head, still panting a little. “You can’t check out on
me like that again. I can’t live this bloody life devoid of you—”

I brush my mouth over his lower lip, that reddening mark where his
teeth left imprints. “I won’t. I’m so sorry. I-I’m ready to try. Thank you for
believing in me.”

“I’ll never stop.”

We rest our foreheads together, holding one another upright.
Droplets fall from his hairline onto my cheeks, joining fresh tears. He’s
water, I’m water, and our flotsam and jetsam fit in a way that’s strange, yet
familiar. I have no idea where we’re going, only that the way out is lined with
broken feathers, bloodstains, marrow ash, and the serrated teeth of sharks.

This journey will take all I’ve got, a small price to have
everything.

Lia Riley writes offbeat New Adult Romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling XXXX with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. She and her family live in Northern California.